Criminal responsibility for violating decree on Internet

A draft law providing for administrative and criminal responsibility for violation of Decree #60 is being worked out.

The Ministry of Communication and Informatization released a detailed explanation of provisions of Decree #60 “On Measures to Improve the Use of the National Segment of the Internet” and regulation #644 of the Council of Ministers on registration of Belarusian Internet resources. Resources owners were most interested in responsibility for failure to observe the decree’s provisions and the Council of Minister’s regulation. The Ministry of Communication preferred not to hide that a draft law providing for clear information about everyone’s responsibility is being worked out. The draft stipulates both administrative and criminal responsibility. The Ministry also gave other explanations of Decree #60 and regulation #644 of the Council of Ministers, “Yezhednevnik” reports.

As the Ministry of Communication said, by July 1, 2010, Internet service providers are obliged ensure state registration of information networks, systems and resources, including own information networks and those of their clients. From July 1, 2010, only legal persons and individual entrepreneurs registered in the order established by law will have the right to sell goods, carry out activities and render services in Belarus via information networks, systems and resources connected to the Internet.

The Ministry also explained that a national segment of the Internet is understood as a complex of information networks, systems and resources connected to the Internet and located within the territory of the Republic of Belarus and /or use hierarchical names of the national segment of the Internet. Based on this definition, domain names BY are not an information network, system or resource, but can be their component parts. So, as the Ministry of Communication explains, domain names are not liable to registration if there is no website.

Those leasing dedicated servers for clients’ websites and administer a server will face a rather unpleasant surprise. There are a lot of such companies in Belarus, and it will be there duty, not that of web hosting providers, to register their clients’ resources.

The Ministry of Communication and Informatization also confirmed that email boxes in a registered domain name must also be registered.

Obliged to inform about changes in client’s registration data (for instance, a director was changed), Internet service providers will found themselves in a difficult situation. As the Ministry explained, an ISP must report to the registering body within five days since a director has been replaced or any registration information has been changed. At the same time, website owners are not obliged to tell their hosting providers about changes in the registration data. In fact, any company can choose not to inform about registration data changes and bear no responsibility. In this case a hosting company violates the Council of Ministers’ regulation #644 and bears the blame.

According to the Ministry’s explanation, Internet service providers won’t rest after all resources of their clients are registered. As a rule, contracts on hosting services are signed for a year, and then prolonged. Every prolongation should be reported about to an appropriate body.